The Boy and the Bookstore

Chapter 2 - Don't Call Me

Over the weekend not much was said between the two. Marcus was still up as Charlie fell asleep the first night on the small couch. When Charlie had woken up early in the morning it was due to the wooden door creaking as Marcus had entered through it after coming up the steps. Marcus tossed a white bag of diner food on the table. Charlie has raised his head and looked through the doorway. Marcus had noticed that Charlie was awake and all he said was “I’m going to bed. Don’t eat all this or I’ll kill you. There’s a towel set out if you’re going to shower.” Then Marcus went to his room, shut his door, and collapsed onto his bed. Charlie wasn’t sure what to do with his time. He wasn’t sure if Marcus’ laptop was off limits or not but didn’t want to risk it thinking Marcus was more than strange. He showered, ate a few pancakes, and got himself a glass of water from the sink. Charlie glanced through his book collection noticing a large variety of books from campus textbooks to, what he could assume, long fictional stories. The only book he had noticed was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the dictionary. Marcus didn’t have a television and he didn’t have any magazines so Charlie grabbed his IPod from his book bag and a book he had to read for class and started reading while listening to music.

Charlie had dozed off until Marcus threw a shoe at Charlie. Marcus was wearing a plain white shirt and some pajama pants. His hair was uncombed and sticking up every which way. The lighting was better now than from the previous night. Charlie had noticed that the two rooms that Marcus had used both had black tarps nailed to the wall around the windows. Only the back room with nothing in it had visible windows. That was where the window he used to escape to the roof the previous night was. Several tiny holes were poked in the tarps to let lighting into the rooms. Marcus looked like a guy in his twenties but Charlie didn’t dare ask him. He wasn’t sure if it was his late twenties by the way he spoke or his early twenties based on the way he dressed. He had brown hair and a brown beard. His hair looked scraggly but his beard was neatly trimmed. It seemed like a weird combination of the two. He had a light pale complexion and light blue eyes.

“Get up. I need you to help me with something.”

“Oh yeah? With what?”

“I need to see a man about getting a fridge.”

“It’s light out though. I thought you didn’t use the front door?”

“Only time I can meet with this guy.”

“How are you going to get it up here?”

“You’re a strong kid. If it works you can lift it to me from the alley. The neighbor down the road keeps a ladder next to his garage. We can use that.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about the ladder yesterday?”

“I wanted to see if you were resourceful and could think on your feet.” Charlie rolled his eyes.

“And you think I can lift a fridge from the ally, get it through that back window all without being noticed?”

“Well I’ll help with it obviously.”

Marcus walked away down the hall to the bathroom and took a shower. The two of them then got dressed and headed outside through the back window. They walked two blocks down the alley to a car that was parked outside a garage. Marcus grabbed keys from his pocket and unlocked the doors. It was a black Chevy El Camino that looked to be in perfect shape. As the two sat in the car Charlie quickly noticed it had a few modifications inside the vehicle. A cop scanner was hooked up instead of a radio as well as a secret compartment that was below the driver’s seat. Charlie got a glance at the compartment that had a wallet, a significant stack of used money, and what appeared to be a gun. Charlie calmly looked away and tried to pretend he didn’t see anything and wondering to himself “Who is this guy?” The two drove for about ten minutes through the city without a word being spoken between the two before Marcus pulled the car over in an empty lot where a business had been shut down.